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NASA Discovers Planets That May Be Future Homes for Humanity

Rocky exoplanets are among thousands discovered by the Kepler spacecraft.

NASA’s Kepler space telescope team has identified 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and in the habitable zone of their star. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

By Matthew Reitman / June 19, 2017 1:08 pm

We may have just discovered the cure for cosmic loneliness.

NASA released a list of new exoplanets that humans may call home in the future during a press event at the Ames Research Center in California on Monday. They were selected from an updated record of 4,034 objects that are most likely planets orbiting stars.

Though it’s the eighth time this record has been updated, 219 new planets were still added—and ten of those were in the habitable zone.

The New York Times reports that its the first time NASA has found a planet that’s as identical to Earth as one among the discovery they’ve just shared. The planet may be 30 percent wider, but it still has a 365-day orbit.

It’s the final and most reliable list provided by the Kepler spacecraft, NASA’s probe that has been collecting census-like data for the last four years. This information can be useful in answering questions like “How common is the Earth in our galaxy?” and “How many solar systems are like ours?”